The correlation between echinoderms diversity and physicochemical parameters in marine pollution: A case study of the Persian Gulf coastline.

This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the correlation between echinoderms diversity and physicochemical parameters in the Persian Gulf coastline in Bushehr province in 4 seasons from March to December 2017. The physicochemical parameters including water temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), electrical conductivity (EC), salinity, pH and turbidity were measured at each sampling location. The results showed a significant correlation between echinoderms diversity and physicochemical parameters. The correlation coefficient of the Astropecten polyacanthus species with the parameters of temperature, DO, EC, salinity and turbidity was reported as -0.41, 0.64, -0.25, -0.44 and 0.60 respectively. This coefficient for the Ophiothrix fragilis species was reported as -0.68, 0.70, -0.21, -0.36 and -0.55 respectively. The results demonstrated that the most sensitive species were Astropecten polyacanthus and Ophiothrix fragilis respectively. The different species of echinoderms can be used as biological indicators of pollution in evaluating the physicochemical quality of marine environments.

Investigation of melamine and cyanuric acid concentration in several brands of liquid milk and its non-carcinogenic risk assessment in adults and infants.

In this study, the melamine and cyanuric acid concentration of widely used milk brands and the probability of non-carcinogenic risk of the brands for adults and infants were investigated. These values were 1.37 mg/L, 1.10 mg/L, and 1.09 mg/L, which corresponded to creamy sterilized sample, high-fat (creamy) pasteurized sample, and low-fat (less-creamy) pasteurized sample, respectively. Similarly, the highest amount of cyanuric acid occurred in brand A with the values of 0.79 mg/L, 0.65 mg/L, and 0.64 mg/L, which was reported in the same samples mentioned for melamine. The HQ (Hazard Quotient) of melamine in the brands of A, B, C and D for adults was 0.0025, 0.0011, 0.0006 and 0.0008 respectively. These values for infants were reported as 2.2280, 0.9444, 0.5714 and 0.6714 respectively. The risk probability of melamine for adults was less than 1. However, the HQ in brand A for infants was greater than 1 (2.380), which indicate the high probability of non-carcinogenic risk. Furthermore, the HI (Hazard Index) values of the brands of A, B, C and D for infants were 2.7913, 1.1737, 0.7067 and 0.838, respectively. The simultaneous melamine and cyanuric acid in the brands A and B in for infants increase the non-carcinogenic risk probability by approximately 2.8 and 1.2 times, respectively. The results revealed that the melamine and cyanuric acid concentrations in creamy milk samples (0.5%) were higher than in less-creamy milk samples (2.5%). Moreover, the amount of the compounds in sterilized milk samples was higher than pasteurized. In this study, a conversion factor (0.7) was proposed in order to find out the concentration of cyanuric acid in milk sample with the amount of melamine is known but the cyanuric acid concentration is unknown.

Management of the construction and demolition waste (CDW) and determination of the best disposal alternative by FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process): A case study of Tehran, Iran.

The study focused on the management of the final disposal of Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) generated in Tehran and the determination of the best disposal method. For this purpose, three of final disposal alternatives such as reusing, recycling and landfilling were selected. Moreover, three effective criteria (environmental, economic and socio-cultural) and 16 sub-criteria were considered. A group of experts participated in the questionnaire in order to create a database. FAHP (Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process) was used to determine the final disposal alternative considering to the sustainable development approach. The results obtained from the FAHP model showed that the weight of the environmental, economic and socio-cultural criteria was 0.330, 0.544 and 0.126, respectively. In the view of the environmental, the weight value of the sub-criteria of recyclable, water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution and natural resources protection were 0.035, 0.127, 0.069, 0.042 and 0.055, respectively. In terms of economic, the weight value of the sub-criteria of raw materials cost, land occupancy rate, profitability, mutual interests, exploitation cost and initial investment were 0.108, 0.045, 0.063, 0.083, 0.094 and 0.149 respectively. In addition, from the point of view of socio-cultural aspect, the weight value of the sub-criteria of community acceptance, government cooperation, people's awareness level, security in construction and employment were 0.015, 0.050, 0.011, 0.022, and 0.026, respectively. The reuse alternative with a weight of 0.439 was selected as the best disposal method and the recycling (0.312) and landfilling (0.250) were second and third alternatives, respectively. The results also indicated that the generated CDW in Tehran was mostly composed of reusable components such as metals, plastics, wood, glass and gypsum. Therefore, with the selection of this alternative as a final disposal method, the costs of raw materials and the pollution originated from landfilling can be significantly reduced.Implication: The main purpose of this study is to provide a framework in which the priority of criteria and sub-criteria and alternatives in CDW management in Tehran, Iran is determined. The novelty of this method included providing an efficient management method in CDW management, because the production of this type of waste in Iran has become a major problem. The most important part of this method was the decision of local experts to provide the best disposal alternative, since solving problems related to CDW management is achieved by participation and collaboration with experts working in the same system. The obtained results showed that reusing is the first priority in terms of all the studied criteria and sanitary landfilling is the last priority. Sanitary landfilling is currently in place in the study area and respondents are well aware of its disadvantages. The results in terms of each criterion show that economic criteria are the most important criteria. Investment cost in terms of economic criteria, public acceptance in terms of social criteria and water pollution in terms of environmental criteria as the most effective sub-criteria according to the main goal. Various complex factors affect CDW management systems and therefore the use of practical decision-making techniques such as FAHP to deal with the complexity of CDW management will be useful and valuable.

Identification and determination of the volatile organics of third-hand smoke from different cigarettes and clothing fabrics.

Third-hand smoke (THS) is a persistent mixture generated from aged second-hand smoke (SHS) that accumulates in indoor environments and reemits into the air. This work evaluates the tobacco-derived volatile organics of cigarette THS from various clothing fabrics that were exposed to side-stream smoke of several brands of cigarettes in a controlled experimental scale. The qualitative and quantitative determination of the chemicals off-gassed was performed using solid phase micro-extraction coupled with GC/MS. Sixty-six components of side-stream smoke were identified in third-hand cigarette smoke. In this study, toluene-reference concentration (TRC) was calculated for volatile compounds and estimated based on the basic response characteristics of GC/MS. Among the identified analytes, 16 compounds were quantified presenting high toxicity and/or abundance in smoke, such as: benzene, toluene, xylene, pyridine, limonene, naphthalene, furfural and nicotine. The results showed that the total quantified volatile organics released for cotton, wool, polyester and filament fabrics were 92.37, 93.09, 87.88, and 50.22 µg/l fabric, respectively. Fabric structure significantly affects chemical off-gassing. Natural fibers were more capable of holding and emitting THS than synthetic fibers. Besides, various desorption times from 15 to 45 min after exposure to cigarette smoke in the study were evaluated. With increasing desorption time, no significant decrease in the concentration of organic compounds in THS was observed. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that it will be difficult to clean the pollutants from the environment contaminated with cigarette smoke and it will take more hours to reduce the concentration of organic compounds.

Determination of melamine contamination in chocolates containing powdered milk by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Melamine is widely being reported as a food adulterant. Although its toxicity is currently recognized, melamine adulterations of dairy products are ongoing to apparently increase the amount of protein. The study was conducted to investigate the determination of melamine amounts in chocolates containing powdered milk. In this study, 60 samples of chocolates containing powdered milk, both imported and domestic brands, were collected. The samples were prepared by solid phase extraction (SPE) and analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). According to the results, melamine was found in about 94% of imported samples and about 77% of Iranian samples. Melamine concentration in imported samples ranged from 0.032 to 2.692 mg/kg, while in Iranian ones it ranged from 0.013 to 2.600 mg/kg. The mean melamine concentrations of foreign and Iranian samples were 0.685 ± 0.68 and 0.456 ± 0.73 mg/kg, respectively. Moreover, the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) values of melamine were 0.017 and 0.052 µg/ml, respectively. The recovery rate (R%) at fortified levels of 1-2 mg/kg was found to be 89.20-95.69% with an RSD (Relative Standard Deviation) of 1.8-2.7%. Based on the study results, melamine was present in 85% of all samples and the melamine level in one Iranian brand and one imported brand was higher than the Codex Organization standard. However, the consumption of chocolates containing these low levels of melamine does not constitute a health risk for consumers.

Optimization of free chlorine, electric and current efficiency in an electrochemical reactor for water disinfection purposes by RSM.

This study surveys the possibility to optimally produce active chlorine from synthetic saline solutions using electrolysis by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Various operating parameters, such as sodium chloride concentration, electrical potential and electrolysis time were evaluated. Central composite design (CCD) was applied to determine the optimal experimental factors for chlorine production. The experimental design, statistical analysis of the data and optimization were performed using R 3.5.3 software. The results showed that the optimum value of electrical efficiency (42 mg Cl2/kj) was obtained at the electrical voltage of 15.73 V during 15.63 min in the presence of 63.42 g/l of sodium chloride. The optimum point for current efficiency was 38.40%, which was obtained at the electrical voltage of 10.76 V during 6.70 min in the presence of 34.65 g/l of sodium chloride. Moreover, generated active chlorine was optimized based on energy consumption, which was 77 mg/l for the energy consumption of 0.2 kWh/l at a current density of 2000 mA/cm2. The electrochemical production of the chlorine gas from saline or brine water can be extensively used for water disinfection.